Special of additional pages, may always be taken to complete

Subjects the text.

The size of page, margin, and writing having
been settled (see Chap. VI)—and the pages ruled
—the penman writes out the text with the utmost
freedom, not stopping to make fine calculations, but
leaving such spaces and lines, for Initials, Headings,
&c., as his fancy and common-sense dictate, and
letting the text—or its divisions—smoothly flow on
from page to page till a natural termination is
reached. And if the terminal page has only one or
two lines on it, it is mot necessary to attempt a bal¬
ance with the previous page—the book or chapter1
ends just there, for the good reason that there is no
more of it.

Colophons, Tail-pieces, &c. (see p. 108), make a
pleasant finish, and may complete the page or not
as convenient.

Planning: Sections and Pages.—Calculations of the
amount of text, of the number of sections or pages
required, and so on, are useful, and planning the
pages may be convenient—for example, one or more
of the verses of a poem, or a given number of words,
may be allotted to the page—provided always that
the scribe preserves his freedom, and treats each case
on its merits. If he think it most suitable to devote
a complete page to each paragraph, he may do so in
spite of its resulting in the pages all being of different
lengths.

The one general limitation which it is proper to

1 If there is sufficient room left on the terminal page for a
clearly marked beginning (such as a decorative initial), the next
chapter may begin there, and so fill the page—but generally

there is no objection to leaving blank what the text has failed
to fill.

306

observe is that of the Writing-line—its length1 and
spacing—and to this may be added the desirability
of beginning the text of every page on the first or
head line.2 For most of us it is not practically
possible to do without the aid of the writing-lines
—which really lead, through uniformity, to greater
freedom—though a book written without them3
might be as beautiful as any ruled manuscript.

Marginal Lines.—These, the terminals of the
writing-lines, are frequently made double, with
about £ inch between (see Plates XX and XV).
On the left this space is utilised for marginal capitals,
or is left blank; on the right the first line acts as a
warning mark and the normal termination of the
text, the second as a barrier beyond which the writing
should not go. The double lines, in being more
obvious than single lines, are also more effective in
“straightening” the page (p. 75): presumably for

this reason the two upper and two lower writing-lines
were often ruled from edge to edge of the page (see
Plate XI).

Ruling.—Marginal and writing-lines, once ruled,
are to be left intact, and may be regarded as actual
component parts of the finished pages. They are
best made with a hard blunt point (p. 74)—the
furrows so made give an interesting character,
almost a “texture,” to the smooth surface of the
page. But they may be ruled with a fine lead pencil,
or with a fine pen and faint black or coloured inks.

1 The line need not always be filled by the writing (p. 411).

* It would not be necessary for the first page of a chapter
to have the ordinary dropped head and blank upper space if a
fine initial or decorative heading were used to mark it.

* Some of the books engraved by William Blake suggest pos¬
sibilities of such wn-conventional treatment, of both writing and
“illumination” (see also p. xix).

307

Special

Subjects